1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and system for communicating information to vehicles from a remote location, and more particularly, to a method and system for prioritizing traffic information and broadcasting the prioritized traffic information to the vehicles.
2. Description of Related Art
Navigation systems for determining a route from a start point to a destination point are well known in the art. In addition, navigation systems having capabilities for determining the geographic position of a reference point are also well known in the art, such as a Global Positioning System (GPS) or a self-contained system having distance and bearing sensors. As an example, a commonly used navigation system allows a user (or driver) of a vehicle to enter a destination into the navigation system. The navigation system then looks up an appropriate route from an original point (using its geographic positioning capabilities) to the destination point in a road map database (e.g., the route may be a route having the shortest distance from the start point to the destination point, one which would take the vehicle the least time, or some other route), and guides the user to the destination along the searched route through a visual display or vocal guide.
In searching the appropriate route, some types of mobile navigation system use traffic information (e.g., position data on traffic jams; information on roads closed by accidents, construction, or maintenance; lane-regulated locations) delivered from a traffic information supplier in addition to using the road map database. Conventionally, however, known methods for providing and utilizing the above-described traffic information for navigation remain very inflexible, cumbersome, and inefficient. For example, in certain methods, the same traffic information is transmitted to many or all vehicles in a given geographic region. A drawback with these methods is that many vehicles are inundated with a large amount of traffic information. Users and/or navigation systems are required to sift through the redundant, superfluous, or otherwise unwanted information to pick out pertinent traffic information.
As a result, there remains a need for systems and methods that allow for the transmittal of vehicle-relevant traffic information from a remote location to one or more vehicles. Moreover, it is desired that the navigation system be provided with enough information to properly determine efficient routes without being inundated with low priority, redundant, or superfluous traffic information. There is a need that the traffic information be provided to a user in a useful, prioritized, and efficient manner.
Accordingly, it would be very desirable to provide a traffic information management system and method that overcomes the above-described shortcomings of the prior art while retaining their advantages.